Depressive Symptoms and Sleep Efficiency Sequentially Mediate Racial Differences in Temporal Summation of Mechanical Pain.

Background: Racial differences in endogenous pain facilitatory processes have been previously reported. Evidence suggests that psychological and behavioral factors, including depressive symptoms and sleep, can alter endogenous pain facilitatory processes. Whether depressive symptoms and sleep might help explain racial differences in endogenous pain facilitatory processes has yet to be determined.

An Examination of Pain Catastrophizing and Endogenous Pain Modulatory Processes in Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain.

Objective: Research on chronic low back pain (cLBP) has focused heavily on structural abnormalities with emphasis on diagnostic imaging. However, for many cLBP patients, clinical pain and disability are not clearly associated with identifiable pathology of the spine or associated tissues. Therefore, alternative determinants such as psychological factors and dysfunctional pain modulatory processes have been suggested to be important.